Pelosi sees red as U-17's advance as runners up in Group D

Pelosi sees red as U-17's advance as runners up in Group D

While the rest of the USMNT fan base was busy mourning the recent loss to Mexico in the Gold Cup final, the U-17 team was celebrating its progression in the Round of 16 at the U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

A scoreless draw against New Zealand was enough to see the United States finish Group D in second place behind Uzbekistan. Being level with the Kiwis on points and goal difference, a drawing of lots was needed to determine who finished the group in second place. Shortly after the game, the nod was given to the United States, which means the team will face the winner of Group E, currently the high-flying Germans who are +8 on goal difference after only two games.

Alfred Koroma was announced in the Starting XI after coming off the bench the last two games to find the back of the net with Paul Arriola being demoted the bench. Koroma partnered up with Mario Rodriguez up top and the pair looked threatening early in the first 10 minutes but couldn't convert any of their chances.

Captain Marc Pelosi also had handful of early opportunities, but, like his team mates, failed to make any of them count as the score remained knotted at 0-0. It wasn't Pelosi's day as he was eventually sent off in the 68th minutes after receiving a second yellow and his marching orders. The red card means that the Captain won't be available for the probable clash with the Germans on Thursday, June 30th at 4pm EST.

—————–

What have you thought of the U-17 World Cup so far? Who's your stand out performer? Does a clash with Germany worry you?

That U-20 team (plus the guys in Europe that couldn’t make it to that game) still could turn out the be the most talented we’ve had up to this point. They put in a poor performance against Guatemala for sure, but that doesn’t mean they are all hopeless.

Yeah, in fact Rongen often said the u-20 team didn’t have (youth) superstars like Adu or Altidore, so he wasn’t exactly hyping them from the rooftops as saviors of American soccer.

I think it’s strange to draw too many conclusions from a game that was essentially a fluke: Guatemala scored off of: a) Zach MacMath getting caught in no-man’s land and b) Agbossoumonde falling over. It’s soccer–sometimes flukes happen. The players of the u-20 team have gone on to play quite a bit and even some of the fringe guys (Ethan White, Luis Gil) have started to get PT.

keep in mind that the Kellen Gulley and Oliver the 2 best forwards are not playing. This team is pretty good, but not very deep so an exit after the next game would not be surprising, nor would Fehr and Acosta becoming big time players

Not to rain on anybody’s parade, but one of the reasons why Jurgen Klinsmann did not take the USMNT position, is that he also wanted control over the Youth teams (over 15) as he has identified the youth programs in this country in need of the most changes. He wanted the ability to hire/fire coaches and to develop/change the way youth players are trained and coached.

Hindsight is 20-20, but it seems given the recent failures in US soccer from the U20, the USMNT and now probably the U17’s too…he was spot on.

The US is going backwards at a faster clip than it has in a long time.

And please tell me why a country with a population similar to the size of Dallas, TX, playing for a European youth title. ( I refer, of course to Switzerland, which lost to Spain in the UEFA U21 championships)

Everyone keeps saying this, but the only players from that U-17 team and the Gold Cup team are Dos Santos, Juarez and Moreno. Granted they all did play in the final and Dos Santos played a huge role in the game, but it’s not like a majority of those u17 champions came an beat us (showing that Mexico develops youth players better). In fact, about 9 out of the 20 players from that team did not move past the U17 or U23 youth levels for Mexico (at least that’s what I could find through some limited research)

youth scouting is a crap shoot. Players do not always develop at the same rate… some are late bloomers, some bloom too early.

Renken suffered two knee injuries and is just NOW healthy. He’s with Hoffenheim and working his way through the youth ranks. A bit rash to say he’s a “nothing”

Jerome is playing in Europe currently (youth ranks). Again, hard to claim these players are “nothing”

Mcoughlin is your best example, but even he managed to play a couple years in europe before returning back to the States.

In the end we cannot expect the U17’s to develop our top talents. There is simply too large of a population for 1 academy to succeed. Not to mention players develop at different rates. We need to place more emphasis on MLS academies to pick up some of the slack.